Boneless pork butt- tie it back up??

[seb bot]

Hey guys, I am a little confused on how to prep a boneless butt :-[

Local butcher sells it boneless all wrapped up, and I am not sure if I am supposed to be tying it back up after cutting off the fat cap.... I've only done a butt once before, and to be honest I was a little confused when I cut the string off to remove the cap and it kind of just unfurled/fell apart... In retrospect it kind of makes sense, as with the bone removed there is nothing to hold it together anymore, lol... ::)

I ended up just rubbing it and placing it on the rack all spread out and it turned out pretty good, but I wondered after the fact if I was supposed to tie it back up to cook...
The butt had nice bark and was tasty, but looked quite different than most of the pics that usually get posted, though I realize that a lot of people are using bone in...

Just wondering what most people do when prepping a boneless butt- tie it back up into a big lump, or leave it more open?
I am a little worried it would get dried out open, but OTOH it would also have more bark as there is more surface area ???

Also, anyone have any suggestions for sauce? I am planning on using Jan's rub, not sure if I will have time to search for sauce recipes. Last time I did not bother with sauce and no one seemed to miss it, but I feel I should offer some on the side... I have a link for the "vaunted vinegar sauce" from the recipe site, any one have any other favorites they wanna share?

[OldHickory]

Here is a recent pic of two boneless butts I bought at Costco and cooked in my Bradley.  I had no problems  and I didn't tie up.  Jan's rub is very good.  I admit I leave out the sugar, just my choice.



My choice of sauce is on the side and is Stubbs Spicy.  Stubbs regular is less spicy. ;) ;D ;D 

[Habanero Smoker]

For pulled pork I like the vinegary thin sauces. I've modified a Vaunted Vinegar Sauce from "Smoke & Spice" and I use Nakano Original Rice Vinegar. Nakano brand is a sweet mild vinegar. Using the Nakano vinegar, the sauce is also great at the table for splashing on vegetables, other meats, and makes a great salad dressing. The following link contains a few other Carolina's vinegar based sauces.
Carolina BBQ Sauces

If you like sweet you can take your favorite tomato based sauce and thin it with apple juice. For example, 1 part Sweet Baby Ray's and 1 part apple juice or some other liquid such as other fruit juices, or soda. Or if it is too sweet you can add vinegar to give it some tang. I rarely make my own barbeque sauce, there are just too many good ones on the market that I can doctor up to fit my particular taste.

The Renowned Mr. Brown is also a great rub for pulled pork.
Ingredients:
•1/4 cup Black Pepper, fresh cracked
•1/4 cup Paprika
•1 /4 cup Turbinado Sugar or Brown Sugar
•2 Tbsp. Salt, Kosher
•2 tsp. Mustard, dry
•1 tsp. Cayenne pepper
(Makes enough for one 6 - 8 lb. Boston Butt)

Also the above rub makes a good starting point to build on, if you want to add other ingredients.

[seb bot]

Thanks OldHickory and Habanero, my boneless butt looked a little more "normal" this time around :P You could see where the bone had been taken out, but it was not totally falling apart... I think last time I may have gotten the end of the butt or something, as when I untied tied it was almost two separate pieces.

I ended up just using Jan's and made some sauce that I think Tailfeathers posted, I can't even find it now to give proper credit. :-[

I may indeed try to Renowned Mr. Brown next time, and the vaunted vinegar sauce to go with it, I had looked at it before but decided to stick with Jan's this time around.
Pork went in last night, it is pretty much done, lunchtime is soon 8)

Sorry no pics, I am internet challenged and have no photobucket or anything... :-[